One Boston hotel broke out the big guns and bought a bedbug-sniffing dog, the Globe reported on Thursday. The Jurys Boston Hotel frightens the bedbugs with a bark and a bite. Ditto the Omni Parker House. Whenever the dog barks, the hotel goes scorched-earth on the bedbugs' collective ass, fumigates, and burns the mattresses. The Boston Public Health Commission has some suggestions if you're prole like most of us and can't afford a bedbug-sniffing dog:......

But before they went back up, whoever writes the blotter wasn't getting a little sick of having to do so many test posts. Commenter Middleman gave us a heads up that something was brewing over at BPDNews.com. Somebody on the BPD end is getting frustrated: "TEST BY IRATE ACCOUNT MANAGER." Middleman responds, "HILARIOUSNESS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA." --Good news. The Green Line Groper has been arrested. The Herald reports that the 60-year-old suspect......

Frankly, we'd like to know what Daisuke Matsuzaka did to alienate his teammates. Does he play "Gyroball" constantly in the clubhouse? Mix wasabi in with the Ben Gay as a lockerroom prank? There must be some reason why his lineup consistently fails to give him any run support, making him 1-3 against the Devil Rays to his 12-7 record against the rest of the league. Don Orsillo put it best late in the game last......

Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential aspirant Mitt Romney is in a full-scale Battle Royale with former Harvard hotshot Democrat presidential aspirant Barack Obama about the subject of sex. In the Atlantic piece Obama, Romney, and Sex, Sex, Sex, which appears to be titled for maximum search-engine optimization, Marc Ambinder writes about Romney's "shock" at Obama's proposal to teach sex-ed in kindergarten. Romney said, "I heard a quote today from Sen. Barack Obama which puzzled......

Since we're getting increasingly bored with dropping cash on the quick fix of a scratch ticket, and gas prices are high enough to deter drop of the hat trips down to Connecticut for a little full service gambling, eyes have turned to the possibility of casino gambling in the Bay State. We mapped it out a couple weeks ago when we first imagined the slow creep of the casino into Massachusetts, but it seemed to......

For most people, airport toilets are not a nice place to be, whether you're at Logan or somewhere else. But now it seems that airport bathrooms are the new hookup hotspot, at least according to local news outlets. The Herald is all hot and bothered. Laurel Sweet went above and beyond the call of duty with bathroom sex euphemisms such as "a last-minute souvenir of their trip to Boston" and "this sea-level variation on the......

Chanel 5's Cindy and Jeff have a blog. It's about traffic. Today it was about grabbing a Taxi. When Bostonist has a flight to catch we've been known to walk ourselves to the nearest hotel so that we can grab the flat rate to Logan because it's almost always cheaper than a ride with the meter running. As fast as the Big Dig has made an airport run, traffic usually slows us down enough to......

Daisuke Matsuzaka Mania has already jumped the shark, and the season hasn't even started yet. The Globe had a long, loving look at how the arrival of Matsuzaka is going to juice up Boston's economy. (Better hide Pastor Wall's warning to tourists about the risks of getting shot around here.) We are anticipating Matsuzaka's official debut as much as the next sports fan. And we are tickled that one guy is expected to pump $14......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading......

With police officers accused of pilfering Oxycontin from the BPD drug warehouse and the MBTA not taking credit but still charging riders' credit cards, December hasn't been a good month for city services. And it's not going to get any better now that six MBTA supervisors have been fired for extracurricular activities during the job - including having a love affair while on the clock. Now, sex isn't exactly the first thought to come to......

Since it was introduced in 1935, Parker Brothers' Monopoly has delighted all those broke folks out there hoping that one day they could own Park Place (with hotels even). For those of us in 2006, we still dream of someday being able to afford any sort of real estate in the Boston area, so we turn to board games to make our fantasies a reality. In honor of Monopoly's 70th birthday, Parker Brothers is launching......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. Thursday 8/3 Stolen One of the things that endears the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to us (along with the dim lighting, strict ban on electronic devices, and terse signage) is how the frames of missing paintings hang empty on the walls. (As per Mrs. Gardner's......

Maybe you were walking by City Hall Plaza today and noticed a strange encampment of sign- and flyer-bearing, Spanish-speaking protesters on the traffic island where State Street meets Tremont. Perhaps you said to yourself, "What gives? I thought yesterday was the big day for immigrant protests!" Maybe you even took a flyer (see right). Still, you would likely have been left wondering, "Why are these people making such a fuss about UNICCO, the Mass.-based cleaning......

This week finds (this) Bostonist on Cape Cod, trying to soak up a little sun while keeping Baby Bostonist (who is fast becoming Toddler Bostonist) from catching a wicked burn or wandering into the ocean. It is a lovely place, especially if, like us, one has the good fortune to have relatives with a house here. However, we would not recommend to anyone not already here that they attempt the trip this week or......

Sure a bit of a stretch for a rhyme, but Bostonist thought it prudent put something up here about the latest union news. Anecdotal evidence suggests that unions are quite popular in Boston. Many of Bostonist’s friends are in several different unions in the area, a couple are even those crazy union organizers. Chicagoist writes today that the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and UNITE HERE are boycotting the organized labor conglomerate AFL-CIO.......

Bostonist couldn't help but notice the difference in Bostonian attitudes today. Suddenly everyone decided to stop doing that whole keeping-their-eyes-trained-at-the-ground-and-muttering-swears thing. Naturally, we attributed this to the weather, seeing as we finally felt comfortable crawling out of our dank winter hidey-holes (spider holes?) today. You know spring has arrived in New England when the kids start doing scooter tricks in Copley again. It's actually really nice to see people (and birds) out and about, although......

The annual "Running of the Brides" at Boston's own Filene's Basement is taking place this Friday, February 18 at 8 a.m. For those of you not familiar with this psycho-shopper event, people line up at 4 a.m. to get in line to have a chance to grab a designer wedding gown at a budget price. The 1,500 dresses range in value from $800-$9,000 but brides-to-be can get them for $249-$699. Gaggles of brides and their......

The Freedom Fries, Freedom Toast, Freedom Kiss never really seemed to have the same ring. After several years of a passive aggressive hostility between France and the United States it is now time to build bridges. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a speech in France yesterday that it was time to “open a new chapter” in our alliance with France. It appears that President Bush has realized that we really can’t go it......